



^gggS'A^ ^ 



^S§0^i 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED AT THE 



f OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, 



DELAWARE, OHIO 



ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT, AUG. 5, 1846, 



EDWARD THOMSON, D. D., 

PRESIDENT, AND PROFESSOR OF MORAL SCIENCE AND BELLESLETTRES. 




S CINCINNATI: 

PRINTED AT THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN. 

R. P. Thompson, Printer. 
1846. 



^P5S> 



INAUGUKAL ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED AT THE 



OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, 



DELAWARE, OHIO, 



ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT, AUG. 5, 1846, 



EDWARD THOMSON, D. D., 

PRESIDENT, AND PROFESSOR OF MORAL SCIENCE AND BELLESLETTRES. 









CINCINNATI: 

PRINTED AT THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN. 

R. P. Thompson, Printer. 
1846. 



•-'- /• 



I s 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The following Inaugural Address was delivered at the Methodist Church, in 
Delaware, August 5th, 1846, before the Trustees, Visitors, and Students of the 
University, and a large audience; and is published in pursuance of the follow- 
ing resolutions, passed by the Board of Trustees, then in session: 

"Resolved, That the Trustees and Visitors of the Ohio Wesleyan University 
have listened, with deep interest and great edification, to the able and eloquent 
Inaugural Address, delivered this day by President Thomson, on the occasion 
of his installation into office, as President of said institution; and that he be 
requested to furnish a copy thereof to the Board, for publication. 

"Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed, to procure the printing 
and publication of 5,000 copies of said address, in pamphlet form." 

Samuel Williams, 
Thomas Orr, 
Charles Elliott, 
Committee of Publication. 
Delaware, O., August 5, 1846. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



The Ohio Wesleyan University originated in the liberality and 
public spirit of Delaware, a village which, by the centrality and 
accessibility of its position, the beauty of its rural prospects, and 
the intelligence, morality, and catholic feeling of its inhabitants, is 
admirably suited to such an institution. We wonder not that the 
thought of establishing it should occur to them; for who of classic 
associations can cross that brook, fringed with willows, or ascend 
yon gravel walk, shaded with majestic locusts, without thinking of 
the groves of sacred Academus ; or who survey, from the margin of 
that stream, or the summits of those flowering hills, the edifice that 
rises so impressively upon his view, without fancying he beholds 
the temple of science. 

It was easy to perceive, that a college, to be permanent, must be 
endowed, and to be useful, must be patronized ; and that to secure 
both endowment and patronage, it must be placed under the fostering 
care of some religious denomination. Now to which of the sects 
m Ohio were the people of Delaware to look for the aid indispensable 
to the establishment of their literary institution? The lordly halls 
of Kenyon filled the eyes of Episcopalians, the neat edifices of 
Granville attracted the undivided attention of Baptists, whilst a 
score of classic piles were distracting the views and dividing the 
affections of Presbyterians ; but, lo ! the Methodists, with a mem- 
bership of 150,000, had no literary institution of a higher grade 
than the academy. To them, therefore, it was natural that our 
citizens should turn. Accordingly, they sent a committee to the 
North Ohio conference, at its session in the fall of 1841, bearing a 
proposal to donate to it ten acres of ground, embracing the sulphur 
spring, and the present college edifice, on condition that it should, 
within a reasonable time, establish thereon a collegiate institution. 
While the conference unanimously gave due consideration to this 
proposition, many of its members thought it should be promptly, 
but respectfully declined: not that they were insensible to the liber- 
ality of our citizens, the eligibility of this location, or the duty of 



4 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

their own body in relation to collegiate education ; but as the confer- 
ence already had under their patronage a seminary of elevated grade, 
laboring under heavy embarrassments, they feared that if conference 
should accept the proposition from Delaware, it would be unable to 
fulfill its obligations to Norwalk, and, perhaps, might be false to 
both. This opposition prevented the immediate acceptance of the 
offer. A resolution was, however, adopted, virtually referring it 
to the Ohio conference, which, after a brief discussion, passed 
resolutions appointing commissioners to accept the premises on the 
terms proposed, and purchase additional grounds. Opposition to 
the measure ceased from that moment. 

Within a short time after the premises were accepted, a liberal 
charter was obtained, an efficient Board of Trustees organized, and 
a preparatory school opened, which has been continued without 
interruption ever since ; and although we were under no obligations 
to organize a Faculty until five years after accepting the property, 
wehave closed our second collegiate year. 

Notwithstanding the many obstacles we have encountered, we have 
made some progress in endowing the institution. Our property is 
now as follows : 

Ten acres of land, embracing the college edifice, donated by the citizens, $10,000 
Five do., on which stands the residence of the President, . . 5,000 

The Allen Farm, near Marion, O., 10,000 

Scholarship notes supposed unquestionable, .... 45,000 
Land, and subscriptions known to be safe, .... 2,000 

$72,000 
Our liabilities, ........ 3,500 

Our annual expenses are as follows : 
Professors' salaries, . . . . . . • $3,350 

To meet which, we may calculate with tolerable certainty upon 

the following annual resources: 

Tuition bills, $1,000 

Interest on scholarships, . . . . • 2,500 

Rent of farm, near Marion, ..... 300 

$3,800 

Our immediate wants are, however, about four thousand dollars. 

If we compare our condition with the resources of our Church, 
or the magnitude of our enterprise, we shall have reason for dis- 
couragement. If we contrast our premises with those of Yale or 
Harvard, or survey them in view of those immense quadrangles, 
and superb chapels, and lofty towers, that rise upon the astonished 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 5 

vision in the literary Babylons of the old world, we sink into 
appalling insignificance. But let us not despise the day of small 
things. Yale College commenced with thirty pounds, and accom- 
panied the earth twenty times in her journey around the sun, before 
it had an edifice or endowment equal to our own. The transat- 
lantic universities were once as low as we, and in their progress to 
their present glory, they have seen nations rise and fall, and long 
lines of royal patrons gathered to their fathers. We are in the 
wilderness, our footsteps are over the fresh graves of barbarians, 
and the echoes of the warhoop have scarce died away upon our 
hills. Though the things of the day be small, not so its expecta- 
tions. "We may be quieted with indispensables, but not contented. 
We shall go on, as our means increase, to erect a neat and commo- 
dious chapel — to obtain an opulent library, containing the treasures 
of the wisdom and knowledge both of the ancients and moderns — to 
erect a laboratory, and fill its apartments with apparatus and cabinet, 
perfect and unsurpassed — to erect and furnish rows of neat cottages, 
each embosomed in a lovely garden, where the poor, but virtuous 
and diligent pupil can retire for study under his own vine and arbor, 
and take honey from his own bee-hive — to complete our endowment, 
and establish popular lectureships, by which the community may 
be instructed in important branches of science without entering 
college classes. President and professors will go down to the 
narrow-house, but the University, we hope, will go tip to realize 
these broad and lofty expectations. To justify this hope, let us 
glance at our prospects, 

I. These are founded upon the interests of the citizens of 
Delaware. The institution originated with them, and their personal, 
pride is involved in its success. They feel grateful to the denomi- 
nation which came so generously and promptly to their aid, and 
will express that gratitude in a suitable mode. Tell me not of 
bigotry and sectarian jealousy. Conscious of our integrity and 
liberality, we fear no righteous opposition; and trusting in God and 
our own right arms, we dread no unrighteous one. Misunder- 
standing may occur, but it cannot last; and the opposition founded 
upon it must vanish with itself. It is matter of joy to me that the 
University is located in a community divided in political and religious 
opinions: the friction of a mixed society prevents dogmatism and 
develops energy. 

1* 



6 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

The University promotes the wealth of the town. The blindness 
which cannot see this, must be as unnatural as the indifference 
which cannot feel it. It may not be amiss, however, to exhibit a 
few figures on this point. 

The institution has brought hither five professors' families, whose 

expenses will average $450 per annum, .... $2,350 

One unmarried professor, ....... 250 

It has already induced, at least, seven other families to take up their 

abode here, whose expenses, perhaps, may average $450, . . 3,150 

The students will probably average one hundred, besides those belong- 
ing to families resident here, and their boarding will average sixty 
dollars per annum, . . . . . . 6,000 

The cost of their books will be not less than . . . 1,000 

Incidental expenses, professional services, clothing purchased here, &c, 

will not vary much from ...... 1,000 

Expenses of parents, and other visitors of students and professors, and 

the trade they bring, may be estimated at . . . . 2,000 



$15,750 
This amount will probably be doubled after the institution shall 
have been five 3^ears longer in operation. A number of lots have 
been purchased by families, who intend to remove here shortly, to 
enjoy the benefits of the University. A considerable number of 
houses (we have reason to suppose) have been erected here, which 
would have been reared elsewhere, had not this institution been 
founded. Moreover, it is destined to give additional fame to the 
spring, and a sagacious business man, foreseeing this result, is 
erecting a building where golden visitors may throng. The Uni- 
versity has increased the value of the real estate in the place and 
vicinity. This cannot be estimated at less than $300,000, nor can 
it have enhanced in value from the institution less than twenty per 
cent. Here, then, is a donation to Delaware of $60,000. If any 
one think this extravagant, let him inquire. We have spoken only 
of the direct influences ; let us advert to the indirect. The prosper- 
ity of an inland town, possessing no water privileges, or other local 
advantages, must depend upon that of the surrounding country : the 
prosperity of a country depends very much upon its intelligence. 
Remove the present inhabitants of Delaware county, and substitute 
for them a rude tribe of Indians, and what would its farms be worth? 
"What would the village of Delaware bring? Make every farmer as 
intelligent as Professor Silliman, and every acre, every plough, every 
turnep, would be trebled in value, and resources that may lie hidden 
for ages might suddenly come to light. Heretofore, farmers have 
not felt the necessity of science; but when they shall have worn 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 7 

out the forest mold, they will learn that the value of a farm is inti- 
mately related to the knowledge of the owner. But how shall a 
people become intelligent? Provide common schools, and compel 
the attendance of children, and you have but taken the first step in 
the public education. You must take three more. 1. You must 
secure competent teachers, without which the school is a farce and 
a curse. Where are you to obtain these? Men in commercial, 
professional, or agricultural life, have neither the habits nor the 
inclination for teaching. If they had, they would not abandon 
those lucrative pursuits for a scanty support. To the young men 
you must look; and where are they to acquire suitable qualifica- 
tions? At the college. 2. You need competent school directors 
and examiners. And who are competent? Not they who are 
acquainted merely with grammar, arithmetic, and geography. 
They who have studied nothing else, know not these. You require 
men of enlightened minds, of comprehensive views, of disciplined 
powers, who can take an interest in the diffusion of knowledge, 
examine the different modes of instruction, analyze and test pro- 
posed improvements in education, and introduce such as are truly 
valuable. Whence do such men come? In nearly every district 
where the common school prospers are graduates, to whom its vigor 
may be traced. 3. You need school books. Who shall write 
them? He who knows not the laws of the human mind, would 
make but a sorry text-book in arithmetic; he who has no acquaint- 
ance with ancient languages, would compile but a meagre gram- 
mar; and let none but an educated man, write even a primer. The 
farther a mind is in darkness, the greater the genius required to 
bring it into light: much skill is requisite to write for a man, yet 
more to write for a child. Colleges are needful to awaken and per- 
petuate an interest in common schools. The influence of colleges, 
in elevating society, is immediate as well as remote. A farmer, 
coining to the seat of learning to dispose of his produce, hears a 
favorable account of the students, and finding that he can support 
his son at the University without feeling it sensibly, determines to 
send him one session. The boy makes rapid progress, and the 
father is so well pleased that he continues him another session, and 
then another year. Upon his return, he is the pride of the father, 
and the joy of the mother. Showing his superiority, incidentally, 
in a thousand ways, he attracts brother and sister to the flowery 



8 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

paths of knowledge, and leads them, by the route he himself has 
pursued, to , the bright eminence which he has attained. He now 
organizes a debating club, and is elected president; he establishes a 
library, and is made librarian; he delivers a lecture on astronomy, 
and excites general admiration. The family now take higher rank 
in the neighborhood. But this stings the lads and lasses that have 
heretofore looked down upon them. Is not this, say they, Minor, 
the blacksmith? and was not James, his son, once our plough-boy? 
and are not his brethren, Joseph, and John, and Henry, all with us ? 
Well, father, exclaim the youths, in a dozen cabins at once, we will 
go to college, too. Presently there is heard throughout the vicinage, 
a note of preparation — it enters the ears of young James, and is borne 
as on the wings of the wind to his joyous home, where it instantly 
provokes his family to resolve that, to keep their ground, he must 
return to college and graduate. Meanwhile this circle of emulation 
is constantly widening ; and what is transpiring in this part of the 
county, is going on in others. Thus, in the region of the college, 
there is a gradual elevation of the whole platform of society. 
Industry is stimulated, intelligence diffused, improvements intro- 
duced, the public taste refined, enterprise provoked, acquaintance 
extended, and correspondence with distant points established: 
cabins become villas, swamps parterres, the forest is fragrant with 
the lily and the rose, and the whole land seems to be moving 
upward to the sun and the bosom of the clouds. 

We have seen the influence of the college upon the wealth of 
the town. What will be the effect upon its pleasures? The young 
people being educated will become refined— -for intellectual pleasures 
awaken a taste for the fine arts — the door yards will be adorned 
with shrubs, the gardens with statuary, the dwellings with 
paintings, and the evening carols of -your children will be accompa- 
nied with tones sweet as those of the harp of David — the pleasures 
of sense, and the turbulence of passion, will, amid the general 
serenity, and beauty, and harmony, grow distasteful, and when the 
young gather to their feast, it will be a feast of reason, seasoned 
with the exhilarating pleasures of the eye and ear. / am not mad, 
but ye are, if ye estimate the influence of your college upon the 
social pleasures of the town, by a glance at those rude collegians that 
toss the ball on that green eminence, or lounge upon its grassy slope. 
Look to that incipient library receiving perpetual additions — to that 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 9 

nucleus of a cabinet, which in its progressive enlargement will 
exhibit more and more of the beauties of nature — to that gallery of 
paintings, which, while I speak, many may form a fixed purpose to 
increase, until the eye can be feasted and the soul entranced — to that 
laboratory we have in view, where air will be analyzed, water decom- 
posed, and lightning imprisoned — to those popular lectures on science, 
where the humblest of your citizens may learn philosophy. Look 
at the refined circles of New Haven. And what influence upon 
the character of the village does the college exert? It annually 
floats her name upon a thousand leaves on all the winds of heaven ; 
it proclaims her praises upon the public breath through all the 
regions of the land; it writes your best words, and prints your best 
works, in a book; it praises your health, and apologizes for your 
sickness ; it will grave your lovely scenery with an iron pen, and 
lead, if not in the rock for ever. 

Nor must we omit to inquire, what will be the influence of the 
college upon your village in coming ages ? The Eternal City 
may become a waste, but the dominion of her nobler minds will 
endure to all generations. The college, if fostered, will not only 
embalm the memory of its founders, but give immortality to their sons. 
Whence come earth's great ones — the Jeffersons, the Erskines, 
the Webs ters: the founders of constitutions, the expounders of law, 
the embassadors of nations? As a general rule, from the college. 
Hither come the bench, the bar, the senate chamber, the pulpit, the 
throne, to fill their vacant seats. Place the names of your children 
upon the college catalogue, and, as a general rule, you enroll them 
upon the scroll of respectability, if not of fame. Graduate them, 
and they are fair candidates for the highest honors and emoluments 
of the government. How great, then, the advantages you possess 
over the people of many neighboring towns ! 

The college, moreover, tends to produce a homogeneous commu- 
nity. In nature, in providence, in grace, God creates distinctions. 
To his will we should bow ; but to make artificial ones is to thwart 
his design. It is the glory of this Union, that this government can 
create no aristocracy ; it is her shame, that the purse can. It is per- 
petually drawing, in every city and village, a broad line of demar- 
kation, which stops not even at the temple or the grave. But let 
the children of a town be well educated, that line will be narrowed, 



10 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

if not obliterated. Let them sit side by side through a full course, 
and they will go out brethren in the bands of light. 

There are, I know, disadvantages connected with a literary 
institution. Bad boys will play freaks. But if any think that 
these outweigh the advantages, I say not he is witless, but that the 
watch of his wits needs winding up. 

II. The prospects of the institution will appear good, if we con- 
sider the interest of the foster conferences in its success. They 
passed resolutions accepting, with its conditions, the donation of the 
citizens, and determined to enclow the University speedily — perma- 
nently. These resolutions are pledges to the citizens of Delaware, 
to the legislature, and to the public— they bind the promisors in the 
mode the promisees understood them—they secure all reasonable 
energies of the conferences to their fulfillment, and bar all action 
inconsistent therewith. Some may, perhaps, think them of little 
consequence. What ! who compose these conferences ? For the 
most part, men aged, wise, good. Are they not to be trusted ? Have 
their brains lost the scent of true poliey ? Itinerant preachers may 
know little of books, but surely they know something of men 
and things. They are not prone to involve themselves in heavy 
liabilities without consideration ? And were not these conferences 
sincere as well as considerate 1 Are their speeches but the explo- 
sions of tickled lungs ? Are their votes but the utterances of "little 
nestlings that cry out on the top of question?" Have they 
never read the Ten Commandments ? Even men without the Bible, 
do not often voluntarily assume obligations they do not intend to 
fulfill. "We trust in the Indian's pipe of peace—- we rely on the 
resolve of lawless Arabs, gathered around the slaughtered caravan, 
and clamoring for the spoils— we confide even in the pirate crew 
upon the deck slippery with the blood of their victims, when they 
deliberately resolve, and can we not trust in a body of Christian 
ministers, who venerate truth, not only as the bond of society, but 
as the attribute of God? But, perchance, they will some day see 
a better location, or have a better offer, or find the village of Dela- 
ware supine and faithless. What of that? " Lord, who shall abide 
in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that 
sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." But may we not see 
in the already written history of this institution, an earnest of the 
final fulfillment of the largest conference promises? North Ohio 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 11 

and Ohio conferences have sent out agents into every corner of the 
state to solicit donations on its behalf, given liberally to its funds 
from their own resources, borrowed means on their own credit to 
pay its debts, and sent members from their own bodies to fill its 
professorships. We, upon this platform, know our fathers and 
brethren, and would not be here, had we doubted their sincerity. 
We have no wish to enact a farce at a sulphur spring, or to feed, 
promise-crammed, upon the air. But is not collegiate education, 
neiv and strange to Methodism? Nay: she was born, cradled, 
and baptized within college walls, and she has manifested a zeal for 
education worthy her origin. What Church in the United States, 
save one, is founding so many literary institutions as she ? But are 
not her seminaries of learning the results of youthful zeal and indis- 
cretion ? True, many of our young and educated men are doing 
duty manfully in this department, but many others (we say it more 
in sorrow than in anger) are indifferent to our educational enter- 
prises, as if they would fain see the seats which death vacates 
around them, filled up with the ignorant, that they might the better 
"lord it over God's heritage." The old preachers are the hope of 
our college. When this institution first went up to the North Ohio 
conference, its senior members were her advocates : they are still 
her firm and ardent friends. When she first knocked at the door of 
the Ohio conference, and when her enemies waxed strong in their 
resistance, and her friends became weak with fear, who was it that 
arose, and, by an overmastering eloquence, prostrated all opposition, 
and raised every hand for her admittance ? It was one whose 
temples are crowned with hoary locks. When she went up last 
autumn naked and hungry to yonder temple of convocation in 
Cincinnati, who ran to meet her in the vestibule, and fell on her 
neck and kissed her, and throwing the best robe around her shoul- 
ders, and putting a golden ring upon her fingers, and shoes on her 
feet, led her to his brethren, and went up and down the aisles 
" making merry " with his friends ? It was a father who, long since, 
seeking, like Abraham, a better country, pitched his tent upon 
this spot, before civilized man had reared his cabin near it, 
and who threaded the wilderness beyond, clad with a blanket, to 
preach the unsearchable riches of Christ in the wigwams of the 
savage. If the University pass through a fiery trial, to whom does 
she turn for an advocate ? It is a man that trembles on his staff 



12 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

who rises— it is an eye dimmed with age, that flashes with 
indignation, and a mind matured by three-score years and ten, that 
feels for the pillars of her assailant's argument. Look yonder ! 
they are taking up a collection in conference. Here comes a young 
man well-dressed, well-fed, well-educated. He comes from a 
wealthy station, where he has married a rich wife. He would not 
have come at all, at this moment, but that, through inadvertence, he 
did not escape from the house before his name was called. As he 
steps to the table, he dryly says, " Set me down five dollars." But, 
now, an old man rises, pocket-book in hand, and moves toward the 
secretary's desk. Forty years ago, a vigorous youth, mounting his 
horse, bidding farewell to his weeping friends, and turning his eyes 
away from the alluring paths of honor and riches along the banks of 
the Potomac, he started, at the call of the Church, for the wilds of 
Ohio. The valley of the Muskingum was his circuit, and joyfully 
he sang the songs of Zion through the woods, looking up the home 
of the emigrant, to preach Jesus to him and his household. Some- 
times the night overtakes him in a pathless swamp, and he spends 
the hours of darkness amid howling wolves or prowling bears. 
Sickness seizes him, but he rises before he has recovered, rejoicing 
to pursue his way. And now his natural force is abated, his eyes 
are dim, and a large family depends upon him for support. He 
comes this year from a circuit, where a people have sprung up that 
knew not Jacob, but on Pisgah's top he sings : 

" No foot of land do I possess — 
No cottage in this wilderness, 
A poor, wayfaring man." 

Well, when he reaches the table, he lays down twenty-five dollars, 
and blesses God that he has it to give to a Methodist, college. I 
draw no fancy sketch. When I hear the Methodist preachers of 
former days accused of opposing education, I repel the charge 
(unless it be qualified) as a base calumny. 'Tis pseudo-Methodism, 
not genuine, that sneers at learning. Some of her preachers, I 
know, did underrate knowledge, and there are a few now among us, 
both old and young, of the same character. They will have noth- 
ing to do with science, because it is not the smooth stone from the 
brook : they won't use Goliath's sword, even to cut off Goliath's 
head. They tell us, God has no need of human learning; but 
they seem to think he has great need of human ignorance. We 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 13 

believe he can carry on his work without either. The question is, 
whether he will. If not, which instrumentality will he select? a fit 
one or an unfit? Let the analogies of his providence answer. 
When, for instance, he sends an angel with a prophet's dinner, what 
does he give him ? a bag of sand, or "cakes baken on the coals ?" 

Admit that the conferences are interested in sustaining the institu- 
tion, will the people sustain them? We believe so. 

They are able. A dollar from each member would answer all 
our purposes for an age. And can they not spare it? Hundreds of 
them give more than this annually to look at monkeys, and will they 
not give it to educate men? Multitudes give ten times that amount 
every year to burn cigars, and will they not give this much to enkindle 
immortal minds? Thousands of families among us have hoarded 
treasure, from which they might abstract enough for a college, and 
yet have sufficient left to bind the hands, and cord the feet, and blast 
the intellects, and blacken the hearts of their sons, and send them 
rattling down a turnpike road to hell. There is ten times enough 
surplus wealth in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Ohio to endow 
a University handsomely, and happy would it be for that Church 
could we withdraw it from her coffers, even if it were cast into 
the depths of the sea. 

They are willing. Are not Christians ready to do their 
duty? What! is there no difference between the sinner and 
the Christian? What, then, is this difference? The same that 
there is between selfishness and benevolence, between living 
to this world, and dying to it, between laying up treasures 
on earth, and laying them up in heaven. And are Methodists all 
hypocrites ? There may be among them some such, but the body are 
sincere: or are they deceived? is their profession empty air, their 
regeneration a chimera, and their rapture but the ardor of ill- 
regulated passion? Nay, verily. There is as much true, intelli- 
gent, self-sacrificing religion among them, as among any people on 
earth. Convince them of their duty, and they will do it. I believe 
they can be shown that it is their duty to sustain the Ohio Wesleyan 
University; therefore, I believe they will. 

1. Is it not clearly the duty of a Church to give a thorough educa- 
tion to her best minds ? Within the Methodist cabins of Ohio, there 
may be an Isaac Newton, or a Robert Hall; but, if uneducated, the 
one may be the village blacksmith, the other, the country magistrate, 

2 



14 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

and neither may be known beyond the limits of his native county. 
But Methodist youths may be sent to Presbyterian, or other colleges. 
. That has been done, and what, generally, is the result ? They are 
Methodists no longer, but give their talents to the Church which 
has educated them : according to the'general law of Providence, that 
when a people do not improve their blessings, they are taken from 
them, and given to another that will bring forth the fruits thereof. 
There are, probably, one hundred Methodist youths in the other 
denominational colleges of this state. 

2. It is the duty of the Church to furnish her proportion of 
teachers for the children of the republic. 

3. She is bound to make a judicious use of all the means which Prov- 
idence offers her of spreading the Gospel. One of the most efficient 
J s the press. To some extent it has been employed by the Church, 
in the hands of Luther, Wesley, and others. It is still a great 
blessing, as used by the Churches ; but look at its chief issues : silly 
poetry, corrupting novels, miserable heresy, concealed infidelity, 
and Atheistic science — "falsely so called" — stimulants to the lust of 
the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. It seems as if 
Satan had come up from the pit to manage the press. He employs 
the best ruined minds of earth to prepare its matter, and uses 
Christian as well as sinner fingers to set the type, and kindle the 
fires, and direct the steam, and catch the ten thousand sheets as they 
are thrown off every hour, and bear them, unbound, to the railroad 
depot, that they may be hurried to the ends of the earth, for the 
poisoning of the nations. Nor do these leaves merely preoccupy the 
irreligious and infidel mind ; they are too often puffed by the religious 
press into the finest fields of the Church, to corrupt the fountains of 
her spiritual life. And how shall Zion rescue the press from its 
perversion? She must polish the minds of her noblest youth, until 
they can rival the glowing pages of Scott, and Voltaire, and Sue. 
A process which requires the college. 

4. The Church is bound to keep pace with the age in knowledge, 
that she may turn its disclosures to good account. Within the last 
half century, the progress of Science has been unparalleled, and 
yet she seems but to have reached the vestibule of discovery. As 
all additions to science throw additional light upon the attributes of 
God, we might suppose that religion would advance foot to foot 
with learning — that every discovery would awaken in the philosophic 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 15 

mind a deeper adoration of the Creator, an intenser interest in his 
word, and a stricter obedience to his commandments. But, alas! 
for human depravity. The philosopher can pass through the beau- 
tiful display of affinities in the ocean's depths, ascend the succes- 
sive strata of the solid globe, and survey new wonders in the side- 
rial heavens, with an ungodly mind and a prayerless heart; nay, he 
often suffers his acquisitions to generate a sullen pride, which looks 
with scorn upon the claims of God, and the sacrifice of Christ. 
Atheism, Deism, and heresy join themselves to Science, and 
endeavor to turn her revelations against the Bible. If Paul's spirit 
was stirred within him when he saw the Athenian altar to the 
unknown God, should not the Church be awakened when she 
sees philosophy, riper than Athenian, questioning the existence of 
the Creator, amid the most sublime demonstrations of his power, 
and repudiating his mercy amid the most persuasive exhibitions of 
his love? Christianity should walk hand in hand with Science, 
through all her green and sunlit paths, teaching her to say with 
increased emphasis, at every ascending footstep, " Great and 
marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty," and responding 
herself in that other and nobler strain, "Just and true are thy ways, 
thou King of saints." She should stand side by side with her upon 
the loftiest summits ; and as Philosophy, pointing to the newly dis- 
covered sun, exclaims, "Hail, holy light!" Christianity, pointing 
beyond the stars, to that higher and holier light, whence stream, 
throughout the universe, the beams of righteousness, should cry 
out, " Halleluiah ! halleluiah ! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth !" 
And that she may thus make the regions of science vocal with praise, 
she should have the discipline and the acquisitions of the college. 
Brethren may say, let other Churches attend to science — be it ours, 
like our fathers, to preach salvation. Our fathers did not merely do 
this. Witness Clarke, and Watson, and Benson, and Bunting. 
Circumstances, too, have changed since the days of our American 
fathers. Methodism can no longer, like the wild ass free, scorn the 
multitudes of the city, while she makes the wilderness her house, 
and the barren land her dwellings. 

5. It is the duty of the Church to resist the encroachments of Ro- 
manism. I am, .by no means, disposed to bring railing accusations 
against " Mother Church ;" rather would I apologize for her. She has 
come down through ages of darkness and channels of corruption, what 



16 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

wonder if her sight be weak, her garments defiled ? The following 
propositions will, however, command a ready assent even from the 
most liberal, enlightened Christian charity, namely : That Romanism 
substitutes faith in the Church for faith in Christ; reduces faith itself 
from fiducial trust to mere assent ; prevents the growth of her people 
in grace, by withholding the " sincere milk of the word ;" weakens 
the authority of Gospel preeepts, by her practices of indulgence 
and absolution; encumbers the simple ordinances of God with 
complex ceremonies of man, and grasps at the sceptre of the world, 
by assuming to take its conscience into her holy keeping. And, 
although in this country the principles of Romanism are modified 
by the progress of the age, the spirit of free institutions, and the 
influence of surrounding Protestantism ; yet, we have every reason 
to believe, that should she ever gain the ascendancy in this country, 
her principles would assume their original shape, and work out their 
legitimate results. That she is striving for the ascendancy, there 
can be no doubt, and that she aims to compass this end by becom- 
ing the presiding genius of American education, seems equally 
clear. When once she allures the youth to her halls, "Religioni et 
artibus sacrum" she begins to spread her vail over his eyes. 
And this is easy; for she directs his studies, closes up his communi- 
cation with the world, wins his confidence \y kind attentions, 
enchants him with her imposing ceremonies, and alarms him by 
gradually pressing upon his immature mind her favorite dogma, 
" Salvation in the arms of the Church only." We blame her not 
for this : her principles demand it. But shame on the Protestantism 
which says those principles are from hell, yet stirs not to counter- 
work them. The vigorous, youthful mind of these United States 
will be educated; and if it find no provision for this purpose in 
Protestant Churches, what wonder if it turn to holy Mother? That 
University will stand while nations are overturned. If Methodism 
falter in its support, and finally forsake it, Romanism will come to 
its relief; and gladly would she now run up those winding stairs, to 
nail the wooden cross to yon dome, and descending, pitch out of 
the window the portraits of Wright, and Finley, and Collins, and 
Young, to hang in their places those of Purcell, and Eccleston, and 
Pope Gregory XVI, and Ignatius Loyola. God hide me from such 
an hour. But what have I lived to see ? Methodist youth within 
the walls of Catholic nunneries and monasteries, for the sake of 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 17 

cheap Latin and Greek ! And what may I live to see ? Those same 
young men and women returning home with golden crosses upon 
their bosoms, to scorn the religion of their dying and broken-hearted 
parents, while the sighs upon every breeze ask, what is the reason? 
And the silver in the coffers answers, it is not with me ; and the 
barns, pressed out with new grain, and the cattle upon a thousand 
hills respond, it is not with us. 

What a contrast does the policy of Rome present to ours. Shall 
Methodism be like the ostrich, which God hath deprived of wisdom, 
and which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the 
dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the beast 
may break them ? Is she hardened against her young ones, as though 
they were not hers? Romanism, like the eagle, "mounts up and 
maketh her nest on high ; she dwelleth and abideth on the rock — 
upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. From thence she 
seeketh her prey, and her eyes behold afar off; her young ones 
suck up blood, and where the slain is, there is she." 

6. It is the duty of the Church to occupy the missionary fields 
which the divine providence is opening. And how extensive are 
these fields ! The isles of the sea wait for God's law; India offers 
her immense population to unembarrassed Christian enterprise; 
Egypt, Persia, Turkey, and Arabia, are yielding to the advance of 
Christian civilization ; China, separated, for ages, from the Christian 
world by an impenetrable wall, has suddenly presented defenseless 
borders, and invited the armies of Zion to the conquest, at once, of 
half the human race ; and Africa, already illumined at her northern 
and southern extremities, by reflection from Europe, and irradiated 
on her western border by the dawn of a Gospel morning, turns a 
hundred gates upon their golden hinges, opening the paths of her 
interior mountains to the feet of "him that bringeth good tidings." 
How shall we respond to these trumpet calls ? Will the benighted 
millions be converted unless they hear? And how shall they hear 
without a preacher? and how shall they have preachers unless 
some be sent? and whom shall we send? Men with suitable qual- 
ifications, surely. What are these? Piety and a call from God, 
are a sine qua non in relation to the minister ; but something more 
may be necessary. As the Bible must be translated, stupid millions 
aroused and enlightened, the rising generation trained and educated, 

the captious Brahmin met and confounded, and the hollowness of a 

2* 



) 

18 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

venerable and gorgeous philosophy exposed, surely, in a world, 
and under a dispensation, where God works according to immutable 
laws, a disciplined understanding, a taste for study, and a knowledge 
of the principles of language, and the laws of the human mind, are 
indispensable. If, therefore, the Church needs missionaries of such 
qualifications, she is bound to erect colleges, where they may be 
obtained: not that she may make missionaries, but that she may 
make men, whom God may make missionaries. 

III. The community at large is interested in sustaining this 
college. Colleges are barriers to many of the greatest evils which 
threaten this Union. We instance a few : 

1. Avarice. This has prevailed in all ages, and has generally 
increased with the progress of civilization. It is more to be feared 
in a republican than a monarchical government. Rome and 
Carthage may trace their destruction to it ; and our Union, which, in 
her infancy, imitated the early virtues of those ancient states, seems, 
prematurely, to be following the steps which led to their decline. 

We who boast our independence, bow the pliant knee to King 
Money, who commands more respect in free America, than royalty 
itself in monarchical Europe. Nor is this tyrant a discerning one. 
Although he sometimes patronizes virtue, and promotes learning 
and religion, he more frequently is the forerunner of luxury and 
effeminacy, the companion of vice, and the refuge of crime. We 
see him often silencing the pulpit, swaying the halls of legislation, 
corrupting the bench, and even cutting the rope of criminal justice. 
Well has inspiration written, " The love of money is the root of 
all evil" — itself neither good nor evil, and, when properly employed, 
a great blessing, yet, when it commands the heart, an all compre- 
hending curse. The nation, as the. individual, that covets money, 
"falls into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful 
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." The specu- 
lations of the past ten years are a fearful proof. What shall arrest 
this growing evil ? The only effectual barrier is the Gospel ; but 
auxiliaries should not be despised, more especially since "the God 
of this world blinds the minds of them that believe not, lest the light 
of the Gospel should shine unto them." Among these auxiliaries 
is the college. The common school may stimulate the desire for 
money, by furnishing abilities for its acquisition, but the college bears 
us above the region of utilitarianism, to the land of the fair and the 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 19 

pure, where men drink of the Pierian spring, not shallow and 
intoxicating draughts, but deep and sobering ones. Learning, by 
enlarging the understanding, enables us to make a proper estimate 
of the purpose of life : by furnishing subjects of pleasing and profit- 
able meditation, it allays our anxieties in prosperity, and, by afford- 
ing elevating and tranquilizing amusements, it moderates our 
sorrows in adversity. It refines the taste, and thus excites disgust 
at unworthy occupations, and disproportionate desires. It weakens 
the influence of that part of our nature which we have in common 
with brutes, .by stimulating that which we have in common with 
angels. It diminishes the charms of our outer possessions, by 
broadening and beautifying our inner. The scholar finds within 
himself a world of light, where he can survey the Coliseum, tread 
the Pantheon, stand upon Mars' Hill, or muse within the Porch, the 
Academy, or the Lyceum. Here he can study metaphysics with 
Aristotle, languages with Plato, mathematics with Euclid, and 
philosophy with Socrates. He can soar and sing with Homer, sail 
the seas with Coesar, and conquer the world with Alexander. 
Learning diminishes the attractions of business, by increasing the 
attractions of nature. As the scholar walks abroad, the flowers of the 
field discourse sweetly in his soul's ear : every mineral beneath his 
footsteps seems his own familiar friend, and every animal in his 
pathway speaks volumes, in accents which he understands. Truth 
springs out of the earth to meet him; righteousness looks down 
from heaven to smile upon him ; the winds^break forth around him 
into melody ; the universe becomes to him a temple, and as he swells 
its worship and song, tell him of the money changers, and you pro- 
voke him to make a scourge of small cords. There may be scholars 
who are mean and worldly, but they are so in spite of the tendencies 
of learning. Few of the truly learned are inordinately pursuing 
wealth. 

2. Another evil which threatens our nation is, her political con- 
flicts. The patronage of the President, always great, has, at 
length, become alarming, and the scramble which it encourages, 
may yet tear the government in pieces. It is easy to see that 
corruption and overthrow await any republic in which the elections 
are a strife for spoils. What is the remedy? Patronage is essential 
to administration, and if transferred to the Senate, or any other 
co-ordinate branch, we should, probably, have more corruption with 



20 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

less responsibility. Colleges have a tendency to correct this evil, 
by increasing the intelligence of the people, and diminishing the 
number of aspirants for office. Who are such? Not successful 
professional men. They scorn the demagogue. Not the philoso- 
pher. He who can number and weigh the stars, can be readily 
reconciled to a limited dominion over the creatures of a day. His 
"promised wonders," visions of past and present worlds, have 
composed his mind " into the calm of a contented knowledge." He 
shouts not in the maddened crowd. Who, then, are they that 
clamor for office ? Quacks, pettifoggers, theological experimenters- 
mere mental cripples, who, being unable to live by ■ professional 
tricks, resort to political ones. Establish colleges numerous as 
society demands, and you will fill the professions with men, who, 
pursuing their avocations with credit to themselves, and profit to 
the community, would scorn to bow where "thrift may follow 
fawning." True, we have scholars in public life, but they gener- 
ally occupy high station, which they rarely seek, and reluctantly fill. 
3. Another national evil we have to dread is, the tendency of our 
government to usurpation. The object of the framers of our Con- 
stitution was, a government in equilibrium, tending neither to con- 
solidation, nor disunion. When they had completed their work, 
there were distinguished statesmen who pronounced it a rope of 
sand. Had they lived to this day, they would have found the rope 
not very sandy. We have trying times ahead. Look at our 
political horizon! I see a cloud of war rising in the west: I behold 
a whirl whind coming from the east: "I perceive a storm, big with 
thunder and lightning, gathering in the south, which, wherever the 
hurricane shall carry it, will fill all places with a shower of blood." 
We need, in the vessel of state, pilots such as Pericles — marines 
that have mused at the Pass of Thermopylae, and the Bay of 
Salamis, or read epitaphs on the plains of Marathon. We need 
commanders like him who 

" Wielded, at will, the fierce democracy, 
And fulmined over Greece to Macedon, 
And Artaxerxes' throne." 

Where shall we look for them? Go ask history who have been 
the asserters of liberty. Who burst the chains which had bound 
the civilized world in a bondage of ages ? The classical Luther. 
Who, from time to time, resisted the encroachments of monarchy, 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 21 

and hedged thrones about with constitutional restrictions? Who 
was John Hampden, that rose alone, "the argument of all tongues," 
in resistance to taxation by prerogative, and at whose voice, when 
an appeal was made to arms, ten thousand flaming swords leaped 
from the thighs of freemen ? Who first resisted taxation without 
representation? Wherever an argument was to be made, or a battle 
to be fought, there were the sons of Yale and Harvard. Who 
signed the Declaration of Independence? All graduates but ten, 
and they scholars. Who framed the American Constitution? Its 
principles were drawn by classical scholars, through ancient lan- 
guages, and from ancient forms of government. The spirit of the 
college is the spirit of liberty. From those halls we hope to send 
out a phalanx hostile, terrible, destructive to the hosts of political 
corruption. Let demagogues and despots oppose colleges — 'tis 
fitting they should ; but the patriot and the statesman will rally to 
their support. 

Though the village, the Church, the community, be deeply 
engaged in erecting the University, it is necessary to make a 
farther inquiry ; for unless God build the house, they labor in vain 
that build it. Better lay our foundations on the earthquake, than 
without his blessing; but this, we trust, we have. Christianity has 
always found learning an important auxiliary. It was planted by 
men of extraordinary and supernatural scholarship : it flourished in 
the first ages under the labors of Clemens, Origen, Chrysostom, 
Ambrose, Augustine — men of the ripest learning: it was revived by 
WicklifFe, Melancthon, Calvin, Knox, and others — as profound in 
philosophy as in piety: it has been spreading in the latter days, 
under Wesley, Whitefield, Edwards, Witherspoon, Fisk — as cele- 
brated for literature as religion. Piety without knowledge often 
degenerates into superstition, enthusiasm, or heresy. That Ave may 
have learning without religion is true, and that it may prove a curse 
as it did in revolutionary France is also true; but that religion 
makes no great progress without learning is a proposition equally 
clear. Then the Divine blessing must be upon the means of its 
promotion. The college teaches truth— from God, leading, unless 
perverted, to God, and, like God, eternal — dwelling in light. We 
have laid our corner-stone in prayer, we are carrying on our work in 
faith, and we hope to bring forth the cope-stone with shouting. 
May we not expect revivals ? If not. we shall be less fortunate than 



22 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

any other Christian college. If we have God's blessing, though 
we must work with the sworcl in one hand and the trowel in the 
other, we shall complete our structure. 

I have no time to notice objections; but when we appeal for 
support, how often are we met with this : The college is important, 
but it is designed for the rich, let them found and sustain it. A 
great mistake : the rich can have colleges in their own houses, or 
send to Europe. It is the poor man that the college specially 
blesses. One-half the pupils of our colleges are the sons of the 
poor; one-third, perhaps, rely more or less upon themselves for 
support. When the college comes into a place, let the poor utter 
their voice and clap their hands on high. Look yonder ! those halls 
are hung with tapestry, those glasses sparkle with vermilion, those 
floors are spread with carpets of Turkey's richest dye : there appe- 
tite is sated, sense entranced, and. passion frantic with enjoyment; 
but, lo ! the pestilence that walketh in darkness stands within the 
portals. At midnight a cry is heard, the pillow of down groans, 
terrors take a hold of the house like waters, and ere the cock crows 
thrice, the master of that mansion is numbered with the sheeted 
dead. Scarce are his remains interred, when a new grief comes 
upon his youthful widow. She learns that his estate is insolvent, 
and kneeling, trusts in the father of the fatherless, and the widow's 
God. A few friends procure for her a neat cottage on the common, 
and her father bestows upon her a small annuity. And now her 
chief care is her sons. Musing in the serene evening, she observes 
the light streaming from the college dome. Suddenly an inward 
light flashes on her mind: "Riches take to themselves wings and fly 
away," and "the friends they bring depart with them. Knowledge 
and virtue are the true and enduring riches." She forms her 
resolve, dismisses her anxiety, and for once the pallet of straw is 
soft to her temples. The next morning, seated before her open 
Bible, she calls up her rosy-cheeked boys, folds an arm around 
each, and impressing a kiss, first upon the lips of one, and then 
upon the cheeks of the other, says, "My sons, 'lover and friend 
hath God put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness,' 
my riches have dissolved as dew, my heart is weaned from earth, 
and I have no wish to live, but for your sakes. The dread of 
rearing you in ignorance and poverty has been too painful for me ; 
but, look ! yonder is the college : its doors are open to the poor — its 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 23 

honors free to the fatherless. The cost of collegiate education 
consists mainly in the expense of board — the danger of it in the 
absence of parental care ; but, in the midst of our calamities, we 
are fortunate ; for our location gives us advantages over most of the 
wealthy families of the land. Go, my sons; be the joy of your 
widowed mother ; struggle with the sons of fortune ; let your 
riches be the immortal riches of the mind; so shall ye be my 
jewels." Years revolve, and, on a bright summer morning, an 
immense crowd fills the spacious chapel to witness commencement 
exercises. Who is that sprightly ycuth? It is Governor M.'s son. 
And who is this? It is Secretary W.'s son. This is an excellent 
speaker, who is he ? It is Judge B.'s son. Lastly, there steps 
forth upon the platform, a pale-faced, black-eyed, plain-dressed 
youth, his knees gently tremble as he stands a moment a mute spec- 
tator of the crowd, and a blush mantles his blanched cheek. A 
breathless silence pervades the assembly, as they mark his modest 
mien, and the angelic amplitude of his forehead, concealed, in part, 
by careless ringlets. Presently, he opens his golden mouth, and 
charms the audience with the dulcet melody of his voice, the 
harmony of his periods, and the majesty and authority of his 
thoughts ; and now mark how the godlike light flashes from his 
eyeballs — how the respiration hurries — how the veins of the temple 
swell, and how the voice rises to majestic fullness, as he bears his 
audience aloft to the highest regions of eloquence. As he takes his 
seat, a rustling is heard, as when the leaves of the forest are swept 
by the breeze, and from bench to bench goes the inquiry, in louder 
and still louder whispers, Who is that? Presently, all eyes are 
turned to a widow in that corner weeping tears of joy. The band 
strikes up " Hail Columbia," and all weep with her. And now the 
audience are dismissed, mark her as she trips over the commons, 
borne up on the right and on the left by her sons : you would think 
her aged feet were winged. And now, that the evening shades 
have gathered round her, and she kneels, in her humble cottage, 
between her sons, in solemn prayer, what think you are the first 
words that burst from her grateful lips? Why, "The lines have 
fallen unto me in pleasant places, and I have a goodly heritage." 

The post of instructor in college is, by no means, an enviable one. 
The compensation, small; the honors, after death; the labors, 
arduous and incessant. I know no employment more heart- 



24 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

trying, spirit-wasting, health-destroying. Were all students amiable, 
talented, and pious, they would reconcile professors to their lot ; 
but, alas ! in this land children are rarely trained by parents in the 
way that they should go ; still we welcome them with hope — we 
spurn not, without trial, the surly, proud, self-willed youth. We 
throw around him arms of love, pour into his ears the voice of entreaty, 
and bedew his cheeks with the tears of fraternal sympathy. We 
read to him the commandments of God, preach to him Jesus and 
the resurrection, bear his name to the throne of grace, and often, in 
watches of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon man, we see 
the terrible vision of his danger, and our pillows cannot bear up 
our aching heads. Why, then, do men leave the word of God to 
serve college tables ? Men, called to preach, have qualifications to 
influence mind that others have not, and surely the highest abilities 
for operating upon the human soul are needed in the college. I have 
no fear that I am out of my path. I have accepted my appointment 
from a solemn conviction of duty, not, however, arising from a 
sense of superior qualifications for it, but from the impossibility of 
obtaining any other incumbent. I expect to retain it until disease 
materially impairs my abilities, or the post can attract superior ones. 
My feeble frame once could bear confinement, toil, and solicitude, 
it can do so no longer. Sickness will soon compel me to resign 
the trust I have received, unless I shall, erelong, receive a summons 
to the grave. 

Brethren, in behalf of myself and my colleagues, I say, "Pray 
for us." Gentlemen of the Faculty, suffer a word of exhortation: 
we are in the midst of death, sickness has recently reminded us of 
our frailty, let us labor while the day lasts, knowing that the night 
of death is approaching. Gentlemen of the Trustees, we look to 
you for direction, sympathy, and support. 

Young gentlemen of the institution, second our efforts to culti- 
vate your minds, your manners, and your hearts. Show that the 
retreat of the Muses purifies, humanizes, exalts, and leads to God. 
So shall your Alma Mater be like an angel standing in the sun — 
radiating long streams of mingled earthly and heavenly light to dis- 
tant points and remote ages. 



.WSH.^ 0F CONGRESS 



028 329 028 1 



